“Let’s use this to slingshot women’s rugby into another dimension”

SOOFTEN the words ‘All Blacks’ have reverberated around Eden Park, yet this time it was ‘Black Ferns’ being chanted. Until this year’s World Cup, no one had ever paid to watch women’s rugby in New Zealand. Now 42,579 fans had packed out the famous stadium in Auckland to witness them beating England in the final. This truly was a landmark occasion.

Wayne Smith later described it as “the most phenomenal rugby moment of my life, hearing the ground chanting the names of these girls”. He’s had a fair few decent moments, too, having helped the All Blacks to World Cup glory in 2011 and 2015. His most recent accomplishment, of guiding the women’s team to a sixth world title, which seemed almost unthinkable 12 months previously, could have the most lasting impact, though.

Their World Cup triumph has sparked a passion in New Zealand for the Black Ferns that is long overdue. In World Cup terms, the nation’s women have been far more successful than the men, winning all but two of the tournaments entered, yet for decades they were underfunded, under-resourced and, quite frankly, underappreciated. Now they are being rightly lauded and celebrated – and paid.

So how did they turn things around just a year on from those record defeats in England and France? Why are the Red Roses still crucial to the strides being made in the women’s game? And how does the sport capitalise on this watershed moment? We take a look…